March 9, 2013 - Taking Advantage of the Weather

This morning I planted a 4-pack each of Horizon Orange, Quadrato Rosso D'Asti, Red Marconi and Quadrato Giallo D'Asti sweet peppers, and two 4-packs of Early Jalapeno hot peppers for sons John & Scott. Then I headed outside and began working on the garden, because the sun was shining and the thermometer read 60 degrees.

First I tackled the mess of leaves behind the shed, so they wouldn't blow in every time I opened the back door. The leaf sucker/shredder took care of them quickly.

There....that looks better!

The garlic growing behind the shed looks pretty good, although it's difficult to see it in the photo.

I dumped the shredded leaves into this future tomato bed, which won't get planted until May, and topped it off with several 5-gallon buckets of composted cow manure.

Then I dug it all in with my new baby. This little thing is a back saver. It's quiet, I can start it by pushing a button, I can guide it with one hand and it works great on my 2-3' wide garden beds. I LOVE it! I just about bought it at Lowe's last week, but decided to check out the reviews on Amazon first. I'm sure glad I did, as Amazon's price was $88 less than Lowe's, including sales tax. I ordered it Monday night, and it was on my doorstep by noon Wednesday.

About ten more buckets of manure, and the onion bed was ready to till. That probably took all of ten minutes, including smoothing out the bed and having it ready to plant.

All finished! I planted around 120 Walla Walla sweet onions in the 12' x 2' bed. Now, if it would just rain.

15 comments:

Good luck on your rain. I'd send you Tuesday's predicted rain if I could. We certainly have had way too much precipitation of all kinds last week. We don't need more next week too. I'm hoping I can get some onions in soon. Maybe in a couple weeks. I can hope.

I think you and I got the same Gardenworks tiller! I tried it on some new beds and it has a much harder time at that than an already worked bed. Hopefully I'll get everything done in time to at least have some late onions.

Edward, the entire garden was deeply tilled last December, when I inherited the neighbor's leaves. With this sandy soil already loosened up, the little tiller cuts through it like butter. It does a lovely job of incorporating the chopped leaves and manure. I'll be forming all new beds this year, and they will be the only areas ever dug in the future, so this tiller should last for years. The easiest way to run it is to pull it backwards toward you, so the wheels are always on solid ground. I just toss the cord over my shoulder, and it seems to stay out of the way.

LOL, Megan, maybe gumption comes with age....in which case, I should have a LOT of it! I plan on keeping myself in high gear all week if the weatherman is being truthful. Temps are supposed to range from 60-69, with possible occasional showers. What lovely weather for gardening!

Wind, yes. Rain, not a drop. Every day this week it's been "chance of rain", and our irrigation water won't be on until mid April. I'm getting worn out packing the 2 gallon watering can from the house!